Drawn After Nature

Submitted by Matthew Gengler on January 30, 2009 - 3:43pm

The Libri Picturati A18-30, held in the Preußische Staatsbibliothek in Germany, comprises more than fourteen hundred botanical watercolors produced in the 16th Century. The collection holds nearly as many questions about its origin as it does images. Rediscovered in the 1970s, the collection is presented in its entireity in this single volume. Due to the scope of the work, covering both artistic, historical, and botanical research, numerous scholars worked on the project. The result is a fascinating and visually stunning text. The volume is essentially in two parts, the first half covering the history and production of the images and text, and the second half which contains the works themselves. A bibliography, an index, and a pair of appendices follow. QK98.2 .D73 2008